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| Who is the best movie music composer EVER? |
| John Williams |
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47% |
[ 8 ] |
| Jerry Goldsmith |
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17% |
[ 3 ] |
| James Horner |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Max Steiner |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Hans Zimmer |
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11% |
[ 2 ] |
| Elmer Bernstein |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Bernard Herrmann |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Danny Elfman |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Howard Shore |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Alan Silvestri |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Bill Conti |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Franz Waxman |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Ennio Morricone |
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17% |
[ 3 ] |
| Other (please tell us below!) |
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5% |
[ 1 ] |
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| Total Votes : 17 |
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| Author |
Message |
 esmagnus
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: Feb 16, 2009
Member#: 24499
Posts: 328
    
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 Posted:
Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:24 pm Post subject: Who is the best movie music composer EVER? |
 
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I know it's hard to pick just one, but pretend you HAVE to! lol Be sure to tell us why you picked the composer you did.
As tempting as it is for me to pick John Williams, I went with Jerry Goldsmith given his huge body of work covering so many different genres, working on so many different kinds of films/tv shows and collaborating with so many different people.
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 bpewien
Captain
Joined: Feb 01, 2006
Member#: 13275
Posts: 1334
Location: Vienna, Austria
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Posted:
Tue Jul 27, 2010 4:51 am Post subject: |
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I think we had a similar thread somewhere here in the forums. 
Nice pictures collection btw.
And for the record: GOLDSMITH FOR THE WIN 
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If our music survives, which I have no doubt it will,
then it will because it is good - Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004) |
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 zgurl49
Commander
Joined: Aug 08, 2006
Member#: 15310
Posts: 824
Location: Minot, ND
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Posted:
Thu Jul 29, 2010 8:53 am Post subject: |
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I had to go Williams on this one. Why? A few words:
Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Harry Potter.
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Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die tomorrow. - James Dean |
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esmagnus
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: Feb 16, 2009
Member#: 24499
Posts: 328
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Posted:
Tue Aug 03, 2010 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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| bpewien wrote: |
I think we had a similar thread somewhere here in the forums.
Nice pictures collection btw.
And for the record: GOLDSMITH FOR THE WIN |
Any bets on Goldsmith retaining the crown? |
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bpewien
Captain
Joined: Feb 01, 2006
Member#: 13275
Posts: 1334
Location: Vienna, Austria
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Posted:
Wed Aug 04, 2010 11:07 am Post subject: |
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Esmagnus, who knows... ^^
_________________
If our music survives, which I have no doubt it will,
then it will because it is good - Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004) |
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jimfish
Cadet 1
Joined: Jul 31, 2010
Member#: 29173
Posts: 4
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Posted:
Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:53 am Post subject: |
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I don't know about the being the end-all BEST movie composer ever, but I've not found a single Morricone score that hasn't inspired some form of thought or emotion within me...
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Over 159 (and counting) DVDs earned for free. |
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 Caelestis
Ensign
Joined: Jun 26, 2007
Member#: 18133
Posts: 42
Location: Cologne
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Posted:
Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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My first pick is, without a doubt, Ennio Morricone. But, in my opinion, one important composer who needed to be mentioned here is Basil Poledouris. |
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tinkerbelle
Commodore
Joined: May 05, 2009
Member#: 25449
Posts: 2518
Location: Germany, Franconia
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Posted:
Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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I do love almost all the composers mentioned above, but after a long thought it had to be John Williams, not only for his awesome scores on Star Wars, Jurassic Park etc. ... but also for doing such fine pieces for Sabrina, Stanley and Iris and The Sleepers .... 
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It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
A. de Saint-Exupery |
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ZeframCochrane
Captain
Joined: Jun 12, 2009
Member#: 25890
Posts: 1403
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Posted:
Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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In my opinion John Williams is the MASTER!
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Carpe diem! |
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 Angel
Commodore
Joined: Feb 18, 2009
Member#: 24518
Posts: 6646
Location: Mechelen
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Posted:
Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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I should say John Barry  but it has to be John Williams because he made to many great soundtracks.
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"True friendship is sitting together in silence and feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had."
my soundtrack collection |
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esmagnus
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: Feb 16, 2009
Member#: 24499
Posts: 328
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Posted:
Sat Aug 07, 2010 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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whoa! JW comeback! guess people are getting stoked about JW at the Hwood Bowl!
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Andres
Ensign
Joined: Jan 24, 2003
Member#: 331
Posts: 38
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Posted:
Thu Aug 12, 2010 2:39 am Post subject: |
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Many of you know that I am a long-time Goldsmith fiend. So one might imagine that the choice would be a no-brainer for me.
But a question like this requires more than responding with one's personal favorite. "Best Film Composer Ever" involves much more than whether one was deeply affected by a particular composer. One has to look at the body of work and take into account things like overall quality, variety and even things like career success.
What really slows me down on this issue is that I spent some time analyzing John Williams' music this last year, and I have to say that in terms of sheer complexity and the power to translate experience into music, his peaks are the peak of the whole business. I still grope a bit to find words to describe what I found, but in essence Williams has a phenomenal power of abstraction, he can sometimes bring not just the emotion (often in layers) of a scene but also an almost perceptual recreation of the action and the setting into his music in a way that is both very direct and yet very musical and entirely integrated to the purpose of evoking the emotion. I think this quality that sometimes arises in his work sets him apart from any other composer, at all, ever.
I can't begin to try to define Goldsmith's strengths in this writing, but his greatness lay more in bringing in outside sources and in generating powerful emotional musical ideas to create a sort of musical commentary on a scene. There is a great deal of overlap between Williams and Goldsmith in the compositional tools they used and and the level of musical competence they brought to the table. Drawing a distinction between them requires that I paint in bold strokes when the truth is more subtle.
So do I vote for Williams? I can't. Just in terms of sheer musical achievement I have lately come to believe that John Williams has the edge, but there is more to film scoring than that. On every other issue Goldsmith is competitive, but I can't choose him either.
So I can't vote. And that opens the field for me and leads me to ponder the fact that each great film composer is an unrepeatable gift to us. How can one decide which is best among so many utterly unique and irreplaceable voices? I don't think it's really possible unless you define the standards very specifically and narrowly, and then the answer probably becomes both more obvious and less interesting. |
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alien_avatar
Captain
Joined: Oct 28, 2006
Member#: 16007
Posts: 1342
Location: Berlin
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Posted:
Thu Aug 12, 2010 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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I also like most of the composers mentioned in the poll, but I simply refuse to pick any one favorite.
IMO, most composers have delivered beaautiful soundtracks... but also scores that were miles away from awesome.
That's the problem with most "best" lists, be it composers, actors, politicians, companies or whatever.
I take things on a "case-by-case" basis, and that makes it really, really difficult to pick a best of anything.
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